NOT IN TRAINING!

BEST WEEK EVER!

Okay I feel bad that thats my title post for this week, I promise it has nothing to do with saying goodbye to Hermana Robayo haha! It was bittersweet to say goodbye to her, but I was and still am really excited for this next part of my mission. IM OFFICIALLY NOT IN TRAINING!!! woohooo! I feel like a real missionary now and the language is getter better and better every day so i can actually communicate with people, woop woop! I can now answer the phone and call people and set appointments without being afraid (even though i sometimes have to repeat myself 10 times because my accent is so thick haha) and I´m just overall building up my confidence! For example in lessons, at first, I would get really nervous and had to form out what I wanted to say in spanish in my mind during lessons, but now all I need to do is study in the morning for my lessons and then just listen to the Spirit! It´s such a liberating and powerful experience, every time. To just be able to listen to the Holy Spirit to figure out the needs of the people you´re teaching and then applying a gospel principle that will help them and bring them closer to Christ. 

SOOOO I said goodbye to my mom on Wednesday and a couple hours later, picked up my new beautful companion, Hermana Lyons!! I love her so much already! She´s from Utah and is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Her spanish is amazing and she is a POWERFUL teacher. She loves to bake and has already made cookies so that helps too haha ;) No but seriously, these past 4 days with her have honestly been one of the best 4 days of my mission. She´s already helped me to be a better missionary and to get out of my comfort zone. For example, we have a goal to contact on every bus we go on and let me tell ya, bus contacting is SO HARD. I love knocking on doors, or even just street contacting but bus contacting  is soooooo awkward. First of all, you have to approach someone almost randomly sometimes and try to talk to them while everyone on the bus is watching and listening to you and then if they reject you, all you can do is awkwardly stand there until one of you get off haha. But we´ve done it every time and we´ve already seen miracles! We met a man who gave his number to the missionaries a year ago and they never called him back (they probably just wrote the number down wrong or something ;) and has been waiting for more "young people to  talk about God" with him. For a YEAR. What a blessing!

Other crazy things that happened this week was that we moved pisos! Poor Hermana Lyons, I didnt even let her unpack when she got here and her second morning here we had to pack up everything in the apartment and moved a couple streets away. But it was a miracle because not only were we able to pack and clean our apartment, but we moved everything down five flights of stairs and into our new apartment in three hours! So then we were able to proselyte and keep our appointments for the rest of the day. And our new piso is AMAZING: I feel like a princess in a castle. The piso belongs to members from the church so they left a lot of furniture for us and I seriosuly feel like I´m living in Oma´s house. Its like culture shcok all over again! I feel like I could walk outside and be in St. George or something. I can´t tell you how grateful I am! 

This next transfer will be so great, I´m so excited! I wasn´t stressed at all with setting appointments or showing my companion around and I know thats because of your prayers, so thank you so much for that!

Teaching wise,.....Estela is still doing great! She has such a love for the gospel that I´ve never seen in anyone as young as her. Everything we teach her she just drinks up and if we she wasn´t doing it before, for example we taught modesty the other day, she´s just like, "okay that makes sense and I feel its true so i´ll do it!". Maquina!!!

We took Merly to church again the other day and she loves it. She´s been going for a month alone now and her mom says she ran up to her after church yesterday and said "I know this church is true, I want to be baptized, I want to be baptized!!" And she will, I have no doubt. Man, I have so much love for this girl!! And i´m so grateful for the faith of children. I have learned more from them than i have learned from adults on my mission. They have so much faith and theyre willing to pray and find out the truth for themselves! 

Sometimes I think as adults we can be just a little stubborn. And sometimes, especially with the trials we´ve gone through, the burdens we´ve felt, and the things we´ve seen, its hard to believe that there´s a God, that He would let these things happen. But I have a testimony that we do have a Heavenly Father and He does love us. he loves us so much, He sent His only son to suffer and die for us. And through His son, Jesus Christ, we can be healed, we can find comfort and strength. I have seen this very Atonement raise people from despair, lift them up in the brightness of the gospel as they discover and embrace the love of their Savior. I love 2 Nephi 1;15. We are never alone and there is always hope! I can and do testify of this! 

So thats pretty much it for this week, we´ve been really busy and working really hard. I havent felt more tired in my life but I love it! Its a good kind of tired, makes me feel like I´m doing something right. I love you all, thank you for your prayers!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!